I finished reading this book the other day and I loved it so, so, so much that I couldn’t be content with just writing a review on Good Reads… my blog needs one too!
The plot:
Essentially, this is a book about a circus – Le Cirque des Reves (which means “Circus of Dreams”). Except… it’s not really a circus. Not that kind of circus anyway. There are tents and some of them even have acrobats in them, but that’s as far as the similarities with a normal circus go. Plus, this circus is only open at night, closing its gates again at dawn. And anyway, the story isn’t really about the circus. Actually, it’s about two magicians competing against each other in a kind of game (that’s actually more of a… test? Battle of wits? Experiment?). Oh, I give up… summarising the plot is just too difficult!
My review:
In case you hadn’t gathered yet, I loved this book! It started off fairly slowly and I was torn between finding it interesting and being a bit put off by the pages and pages of description but not a lot of actual action. But gradually it sucked me in, until I got to the stage where I wished my commute to work was longer so I wouldn’t have to stop reading. I am aware that a lot of people won’t like The Night Circus – it’s like the Marmite of books, I think. Either you love it or you hate. Looking back, there isn’t really much of a plot and takes ages to figure out what’s actually going on (both for the reader and the magicians themselves!), but somehow, despite these failings, I fell in love with the characters and – more importantly – with the circus itslef. I desperately want there to be a real Cirque des Reves so I can go and visit it over and over again. I had to give it five stars on Good Reads because that’s all I’m allowed, but I want to give it a million stars.
Confuzzledom 
I’m with you, I completely loved this book when I read it a year or two back. It’s just so magical (even without the magical plotline) I think it completely draws you in. I experienced that real sense of grief you get after finishing a really really good book when I got to the end of this one.
Yes, that’s exactly what I mean! I wanted it to just go on and on, forever.
I LOVED this book when I read it a year or two ago. It had me from the very first page where the poster goes up advertising the circus. I thought the detailed descriptions of the circus were magical and I wanted to go and visit it myself!
That’s exactly how I felt… I want to go and visit the circus!
So glad you decided to share this books, I am going to put it on my goodreads list for sure!! Sounds like others enjoyed it in your comments too x
A lot of the reviews on Good Reads have 1 or 2 stars, but I loved it!
oh this sounds good! May have to be my next read.X
I hope you like it.
I liked how much of the book was subtle instead of direct like most books are it made it unique.
Yes, that’s a good point 🙂
I didn’t read this post because I just started reading the book. But the fact that you loved, loved, loved it makes me so excited to finish! I’ll come back and throw in my two cents when I’m done.
I hope you like it as much as I did 🙂
I liked this book a lot at the start, but then it lost it a little bit in the end I thought. It’sthe kind of storytelling I like though, and I totally wanted to be able to go to that circus too!
Definitely planning to read this book. It is already waiting on my to-be-read-pile.
Sounds quite interesting, I’ll have to have a look if there’s an audiobook version 🙂
I loved it too!